Lenient sentence sought for man convicted of selling ‘ice’

Defense attorney Bruce Berline has asked the federal court to impose no more than 33 months of prison on a 63-year-old man who pleaded guilty to selling methamphetamine or “ice” near the Northern Marianas College.

Berline also requested the U.S. District Court for the NMI not to impose any fine in view of Le Xiang Chen’s financial circumstances.

Berline said Chen has agreed to be deported.

“Given the charge that Mr. Chen pled to along with his advanced age, Mr. Chen will never be able to return to the United States after he is deported,” he said.

Berline pointed out that Chen participated in the Tiananmen Square protests, so his return to China may lead to severe consequences.

“There can be no greater punishment than for Mr. Chen to be removed from what has been his home for the last 16 years and be forced to return to a country which he no longer has any connection,” Berline said.

Chen has been in the CNMI since 1998.

Berline said this is Chen’s first criminal conviction.

Berline said upon being indicted in this case, Chen admitted his wrongdoing and offered to cooperate with the U.S. government. He said Chen is not a violent person, possessed no weapon during the U.S. government’s investigation, nor is there any evidence that Chen is a user of “ice” or any other illicit drug.

Chen’s father died when he was 3 years old. He lost his mother when he was 16 years old.

Due to the political environment in China, Chen dropped out of school after what is the equivalent to the ninth grade here.

Chen arrived on Saipan in the heyday of the garment industry. He came to Saipan in 1998 to work at the United International Corp., where he worked for four years. From 2002 to 2004, Chen attempted to run a small Internet café business but it closed down due to intense competition.

Thereafter, Berline said, Chen worked odd jobs, scraping by, day by day, on subsistence wages.

Eventually, the lawyer said, as is the case with many uneducated people living year after year in abject poverty, Chen resorted to illicit activity to sustain himself.

Upon being indicted, Chen did not require the U.S. government to prove its case at trial. Instead, he entered into a plea deal without resistance.

In addition to admitting to distribution of “ice,” Chen agreed to his removal from the U.S. and to the forfeiture of the $750 that he received from the confidential informant.

He said Chen, by chance, rented a small room located within 1,000 yards of NMC. However, Berline said, despite living and selling “ice” near NMC, there was no other connection between Chen and NMC. He said there was no evidence that Chen was selling “ice” to or soliciting the students of the college.

Chen was one of seven persons arrested in February by joint local and federal law enforcements for alleged distribution of “ice.”

Last May, Chen pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine near a school. The offense carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine.

Chen’s sentencing will be on Dec. 4 at 9am.

According to the plea agreement, on Nov. 8, 2012, Chen sold 2.8 grams of 98.2 percent pure methamphetamine hydrochloride to a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration in exchange for $750.

The sale took place in Chen’s residence in Finasisu, which is within 1,000 feet of NMC.